The Heart of the Cards
by Soul-Shard-Wielder
Summary: Every conflict has two sides to the story. A admitably biased look at the minds of the main characters of a show overanalyzed from only one prospective
1. Seto Kaiba

The Heart of the Cards:  
  
Seto Kaiba   
  
By Soul_Shard_Wielder  
  
Yu-gi-oh! is owned by Kuzuki Takahashi,   
  
My soul is owned by some really not-nice people  
  
Please don't mess with either one  
  
Yugi Mutoh, the one that tore away all my precious illusions.   
  
Will he ever know what he has done to me?  
  
He defeated me.   
  
He showed me death.  
  
He showed me life.  
  
He showed me what I had become   
  
And a way to gain back some of what I had lost years prior  
  
On the surface, I am the same as before   
  
Arrogant   
  
Possessive   
  
Ruthless  
  
I always will be   
  
I have to, I'm a businessman, it's my life  
  
But that is not all of who I am anymore.  
  
I know the important things now.  
  
Mokuba  
  
The heart I felt again after so long numb  
  
The fate of those who reached out to me   
  
And the Defeat of those who would bring them harm   
  
I'm learning,   
  
I'm learning to be human again  
  
I'm still crawling but soon I will be able to stand   
  
As I shuffle through my deck,   
  
I look at the creature that has always been mine.  
  
Blue-eyes White Dragon  
  
Power  
  
Solitude  
  
Common but Unique in its own way  
  
I look for the other two and find them  
  
I have to hand it to Pegasus, their Portraits are beautiful.  
  
like the real thing  
  
I've seen them in the dreams which come almost every night now  
  
my friends   
  
my allies   
  
my freedom in imprisonment  
  
my soul on wings of silver  
  
it's funny   
  
I have always denied the connection   
  
between myself and what Yugi terms "The Shadow Games"  
  
the darker and more magical half of Duel Monsters.  
  
Yet I have always known of it   
  
it scared me, I think.   
  
That the cards   
  
made by what the business world knew was a madman  
  
and myself   
  
with only a tedious grip on sanity at the time  
  
were connected.  
  
I lost many a night's sleep over that   
  
until I realized that sanity becomes pointless   
  
to a world that praises you as a hero  
  
because of a card game.   
  
I put them down to stare at the rest of my deck   
  
Without the Blue-eyes, it has still served me well  
  
However I'm not just staring at my current deck  
  
I am staring at the deck I have used for 5 years running  
  
Surprised? Don't be  
  
Only when a card is worn and damaged do I replace it   
  
the ones I have replaced are in a glass case in my office  
  
The only exception to that rule was not at my choice  
  
God Solider, Obelisk the Tormenter,  
  
whose fate I do not know   
  
nor do I care   
  
I wish it the same fate as the man I pushed out of Kaiba Tower...   
  
May it be found dead and all but buried, if ever found at all.  
  
The newest cards in that case would surprise people   
  
the Five Pieces of Exodia,   
  
water-logged and all,   
  
that Yugi used against me such a short time ago  
  
I had them fished out of the sea after Duelist Kingdom  
  
They are too damaged to use anymore   
  
However, they now serve as a reminder  
  
a reminder of defeat and a promise to myself  
  
to let cracks show in my facade  
  
to hold back   
  
to stand for the weak when I can   
  
to stand for hope when I must  
  
but to do so only from the shadows   
  
because I am too much of a monster myself  
  
Faith   
  
that is the thing that Yugi terms "the heart of the cards" really is  
  
faith that the next draw is the one you need  
  
faith that your deck will pull through   
  
faith that the monsters chosen as your champions will win the day  
  
I have always had faith   
  
it was different from Yugi's but it was always there  
  
mine was the faith of a commander in his troops  
  
mine was the faith in my own power  
  
a power that could protect me when my parents couldn't  
  
a power that could DESTROY MY ENEMIES!!!  
  
a power, I finally realized, that swallowed me whole  
  
but now I have some new things to have faith in  
  
some new people  
  
that Tea's innocence and compassion will keep them together   
  
that Tristan can prevail against what won't be outwitted   
  
that Joey will always get in trouble, but will find a way out  
  
that they will stand side by side when things are at their darkest  
  
and last but certainly not least,  
  
that Yugi will ALWAYS do the right thing   
  
They always have had faith in each other  
  
and while they will never know it   
  
and while I wiil dog them every step of the way...   
  
now  
  
in the places that I will never admit to going anymore...  
  
in the heart that the world deems dead...  
  
so   
  
do   
  
I  
  
-fin- 


	2. Joey

The Heart of the Cards:

Jounouchii Katsuya

By Soul_Shard_Wielder

Yu-gi-oh! is owned by Kuzuki Takahashi, 

My soul is owned by some really not-nice people

Please don't mess with either one

I never realized how much this would make sense to me;

I mean, it was KAIBA, for damn sakes.

Mr. Hard-ass himself tells me to write a summary of my life.

Says it'll 'help'

I laughed at first, told him 'I don't need no help'

And he looks at me with that STARE (the one that makes your blood run cold)

straight in the eyes and growls outs 'write it.'

I'm on my seventh one and it's actually looking pretty good

Better than any school paper I ever written.

I'll probably keep this one and I'm using the sixth as my draft.

(the others are all in story heaven a.k.a. the fireplace)

I'm almost glad that Kaiba bullied me into doing this.

Almost.

I guess I should start this like I started the last three.

The divorce and the goddamned judge's 'fair ruling.'

Oh, don't get me wrong, Mom and Serenity needed their asses out of there fast

but the 'one kid to each parent' bit?!?

WHAT, WAS HE BLIND?!? MOM WALKED IN ON CRUTCHES, FOR HIGH HEAVEN!!!

DON'T TELL ME MY DAD WAS 'SAFE' TO BE AROUND!!!

I always scream in time with the words...

Of course, I said I wanted to be with dad...

Of course, I'd do the same thing again if I had to...

Of course, I hated every second of it...

And of course, I did it all for Serenity...

No brother worth his shit ever lets his little sis get hurt if he can stop it.

And I'd be damned if I ever let my 'dad' see her after a little booze time.

Well.

After that shit was over, and I was alone in Hell-Central

(dad's place)

I proceeded to part 2 of my ever-so-brilliant plan:

find a way to keep from jumping every time I heard a noise.

I'm serious; I'm alone, I'll jump from me moving in my chair.

It's why I sleep at school; 

so used to not sleeping at night, I have to sleep in the day.

Also the reason I started to hang out with the wrong kind of crowd.

I needed something to do at night,

well, besides stare at the ceiling and hope dad don't show up.

He drank more after the divorce. ass.

Thing was, I was young and I was desperate,

maybe not desperate, but close.

I got in and I learned how to fight.

I was good at it and I was loyal. To a point.

We started hurting nice people, I walked. 

Usually alone, but not always.

Got to the point, no one wanted me.

But I didn't need them, so I left the gangs.

Started my own path and what a path it was.

Didn't think I'd do it.

Beat the all-time high score,

win the jackpot,

you know, beat the odds.

I still don't believe it.

It all started with Tristan.

I don't know what he was doing there at that warehouse.

I don't know what I was doing at that warehouse.

Saving some kid or getting saved,

I don't know, but he saved my ass that day.

We were buds before that fight,

hell, we were in fights before that fight.

That one, though, that one sticks in my mind.

Always has, and always will.

Never knew how bad-ass his right really was up 'til then.

(doofus always led with his left)

After that, Tristan and I watched out for each other.

I had his back, he had mine.

Dude was the first one to call me 'Jou' outside my family.

(some other guy called me 'Joey,' realized I liked it after I slugged him.

So I say thanks and tell him everyone calls me 'Jounouchii' except my friends)

But he's family now, anyway.

We weren't born that way, but that never mattered before.

I don't know what made me and Tristan pick on Yuugi back then 

I think I do now, though.

I think I knew somewhere in the bottom of my heart

that this little shrimp needed a spine transplant

and that I, like it or not, was the surgeon in charge.

So I needled him. So what.

I was... pretty sure he knew I was just kidding around.

Right?

The day he brought the puzzle.

The day that, while we didn't know it,

would change our lives forever...

well, it started like any other day.

Tip-toe past Dad.

Meet up with Tristan.

Needle Yuugi.

Dodge the class prez, Tea.

Sleep though class.

And then, Lunch.

When I took that piece of the puzzle, I think,

That's when Fate grabbed little Yuugi by the ass and ran for the hills.

When Yuugi stood up to that big monster of a senior,

I realized Yuugi wasn't that bad and I was something lower than slime.

Yuugi had stood for me and I had taken something important to him.

I was trying to be his friend, dammit.

FRIENDS DON'T DO THAT TO EACH OTHER!

I keep shouting while I write this, someone's going to call the cops...

I set things right, of course.

Yuugi wouldn't have saved the world several times over if I hadn't.

Still, I'm usually the one in trouble.

Kind of weird, if you think about it.

Why is that, anyway?

Well, whatever...

The next day was weird as hell,

the senior, in the hospital, self-inflicted.

Yuugi, wearing that pendant that the puzzle turned into,

and I'll be damned if he wasn't already walking taller.

It wouldn't be the last time, either.

Like Yami would say,

"Someone who trespasses on another's soul must challenge the King of Games."

And noone has ever won against Yuugi or Yami, 

not if something important was on the line.

I think the only one who really has was Kaiba at Duelist Kingdom.

And Kaiba risked everything on that duel, so it don't count.

Yuugi was the one who introduced us to Tea.

Miss Popularity and Mr. Clam,

known each other since kindergarden.

Who would have thunk?

Still, I think Tea was the one who figured it first.

Not just Yami but... everything.

Our Destiny, with a capital D.

What was on the line.

Sure, Yuugi knew but Yuugi always did.

Tea, Tristan, and me were left out of the 'Mystic Past Hotline'

It was like anybody close to Yuugi or Kaiba

had a past while Yami was still kicking.

And Tea had it hit her like a freight train;

like she was born to figure it out 

and she probably was...

Kaiba called it DEATH-T.

Never figured out what the T meant and I'm not asking.

Death traps.

Paid goons.

Showdowns out of a 'James Bond' movie.

It was a...

It was...

It was nuts.

Pure and simple.

AB-SOLUTE NUTS!

*sigh*

It was where we found out about Yami.

The Game King.

But he didn't look any different from Yuugi.

Yuugi sees him different than anyone else so 

maybe that's why Yuugi says he has red eyes.

Tea has seen him different, too, but 

most of the time, Yami and Yuugi have the same body.

Easy to forget about, the first few times.

After the tenth, well… 

A lot of folks ain't right in the head because of Yami.

It serves them right, though.

I'm not the best judge of character

and Yami is everything I think Yuugi could be,

but I still think Yami is missing... something.

I don't know what it is but I think he needs it a lot.

Duelist Kingdom was the first time I ever fought as a duelist.

The Flame-Swordsman and the Red-eyes Black Dragon 

My boys, Oh YEAH!

I may not use them anymore,

but those two cards have never really let me down.

My sis needed money for eye surgery.

And Pegasus (the freak) was offering 30 Mill to the winner.

Saving my sister again,

and I know I'd do it again in a heartbeat

It was the first time I met Mai.

I'll get to her, latter.

It was the first time I went against Yami.

It was the only time I have ever been able to tell them apart.

Yami's eyes can have EVERYTHING sucked out of them.

I only really saw that for a second, but that was all I needed.

All I'd wish on my worst enemy.

Yami could kill with his eyes.

Then, that smirk of his joined in and normality came back.

Oh, and Mr. Freaky himself at the time.

Maxamillion 'Pegasus' Crawford.

If I hear his voice ever again, it'll be too soon.

After that, I thought it was over.

I forgot about Adventure Manga Rule #1:

"It ain't over til they say it's over."

Well, I didn't forget, I just didn't think it applied to real life...

I can tell you now: it does.

Boy, does it ever.

3 years straight and still going strong.

It's... great.

I told you I'd write about Mai.

Mai is one of the top Duelists in the world.

She also is one of the few people I don't want to be an ass around.

I think Mai's smile can light up a room,

and I'm glad she doesn't use it often.

She has a lot I can relate to; including the 'tough' image and 

the ability to crawl under anyone's skin, including mine.

I am protective of her, almost as much as with Serenity.

I know she can take care of herself, but I don't want to lose her.

Why, I don't know, but I won't think about it now.

Speaking of Serenity, she's doing great.

What she sees in Kaiba, I don't know.

But the ass had better make sure she's happy,

or NOTHING will save him.

Hear that, Kaiba, NOTHING!

*ahem*

Anyway, the rest of that money I got from Pegasus,

it's in its own personal bank account.

I asked Tea one night to help me do it.

Now, I get a little spending cash every month,

and by the time everybody graduates,

they'll be able to go anywhere... except…

*sigh*

Yuugi said he has to stay where he is,

Tea is afraid for Yuugi (why? I don't know),

Tristan and me will never go anywhere, really,

but I think I'm going to ask Kaiba if he needs help running KaibaCorp.

Guy looks burnt out and overworked.

Hopefully, I could get him some free time,

time he could spend with his brother,

or by himself,

or even my sister.

When I think about it, all of us look beat.

Dealing, literally, with the supernatural, 

I'm surprised none of us have had a nervous breakdown.

Tea would be the one to go first.

She's cool and all, but she's just not cut out for this.

Still, the rest of us wouldn't be far behind.

Whoever's up there, send us a clue.

Tell us we're doing a good job.

Help us keep from going crazy.

Please.

                                                -Jounouchi "Joey" Katsuya

A suggestion: now you have read this part of "The Heart of the Cards," read it again, but this time, try to use the emotions you got from the first reading.  This story was spoken aloud, and with a very bad Brooklyn accent.  Also, the slang had been corrected.  I wanted this story to be read aloud, and I think it is the best way to read it. 


End file.
